‘A self-described art thief’: how Wayne Thiebaud channeled other artists
The late painter was known for his masterly reinterpretations of famous works but also his own, wide-ranging originalsProbably the most famous thing that Pablo Picasso never said was: “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” The quote, which has been widely misattributed to the Spaniard, as well as TS Eliot and even Steve Jobs, among a long list of famous thinkers, is so popular because it encapsulates a seeming truism about artists: if your influences are ascertainable, you must not be very good at what you do.The fantastic new show at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, Wayne Thiebaud: Art Comes from Art, neatly reverses this equation, showing more than 60 of the Californian’s best pieces – alongside reproductions of the paintings he cribbed from to make them. The implicit argument is that placing Thiebaud into a personal canon of artistic mentors and influences doesn’t diminish him but actually makes him better than ever before. Continue reading...
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The late painter was known for his masterly reinterpretations of famous works but also his own, wide-ranging originals
Probably the most famous thing that Pablo Picasso never said was: “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” The quote, which has been widely misattributed to the Spaniard, as well as TS Eliot and even Steve Jobs, among a long list of famous thinkers, is so popular because it encapsulates a seeming truism about artists: if your influences are ascertainable, you must not be very good at what you do.
The fantastic new show at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, Wayne Thiebaud: Art Comes from Art, neatly reverses this equation, showing more than 60 of the Californian’s best pieces – alongside reproductions of the paintings he cribbed from to make them. The implicit argument is that placing Thiebaud into a personal canon of artistic mentors and influences doesn’t diminish him but actually makes him better than ever before.
Continue reading...
